Indonesia: Success Story with Free Condoms

Government-issued condoms may be one reason why family planning is one of Indonesia's enduring success stories. "Health ministry" condoms are handed out for free to Indonesia's poor. They come in green wrappers bearing the Indonesian family planning logo -- stick figures of a two-child family holding hands. The slogan reads: "Two children are enough."

At the height of Indonesia's economic crisis three years ago when the prices of other contraceptives rose, the government condoms saved the day. There are also commercial brands, however, including the Indonesian Family Condoms that cost about 1,500 rupiah (28 cents) each. The Sutra condom surfaced in 1999, three times cheaper than the Indonesian Family Condom because its development was financed mostly by a grant from a German development bank and the state budget for the HIV Prevention Measure project.

Condoms are not a top choice for contraception in this Muslim-dominated country. They are, in fact, associated with prostitutes or extramarital affairs. In some small towns, stores only sell condoms to married couples. And condom use ranks third after those who opt for injections, the pill or intra-uterine devices and implants, according to the Board of National Coordination of Family Planning (BKKBN).

Yet, birth control is serious business in Indonesia. In his 32 years in office, former President Suharto curbed birth rates from five to six children per mother in the 1970s to 2.79 children by 1997. The current deputy chief of BKKBN, Siswanto Agus Wilopo, said that Indonesia is no longer criticized for its stern family-planning programs. "In the past, because everyone was in charge of family planning, like the local administrators, there was a lot of coercion, a lot of human-rights abuses but now it is more a personal awareness," said Siswanto.

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